Devagiri. This is big news. We must research the curative properties of the Somras. There is a
lot of work to do!’
Shiva smiled fondly at Ayurvati.
Sati whispered, ‘Thank you Ayurvatiji. Like thousands of others, I too owe my life to you.’
‘You owe me nothing, Sati. I only did my duty.’
Ayurvati bowed with a formal namaste and left the room.
‘Well, even I...,’ mumbled Parvateshwar awkwardly, as he walked out.
Parvateshwar was surprised to find Ayurvati waiting for him outside. She was standing at a
safe distance from the guards. Whatever it was that she wanted to talk about, she did not want
the others to hear.
‘What is it, Ayurvati?’ asked Parvateshwar.
‘I know what’s bothering you Parvateshwar,’ said Ayurvati.
‘Then how can you just stand by and watch? I don’t think it is right. I know that this is not the
correct time to say anything. But I will raise the issue when appropriate.’
‘No, you shouldn’t’
‘How can you say that?’ asked a shocked Parvateshwar. ‘You come from a rare family
which did not have even one renegade Brahmin during the rebellion. Lord Ram insisted that the
laws had to be followed strictly. He demonstrated repeatedly that even he wasn’t above the
law. Shiva is a good man. I won’t deny that But he cannot be above the law. Nobody can be
above the law. Otherwise our society will collapse. You above all should know this.’
‘I know only one thing,’ said Ayurvati, determined. ‘If the Neelkanth feels it is right, then it is
right.’
Parvateshwar looked at Ayurvati as if he didn’t recognise her. This could not be the woman
he knew and admired, the woman who followed the law without exception. Parvateshwar had
begun to respect Shiva. But the respect had not turned into unquestioning faith. He did not
believe that Shiva was the one who would complete Lord Ram’s work. In Parvateshwar ’s eyes,
only Lord Ram deserved absolute obedience. Nobody else.
‘In any case,’ said Ayurvati, ‘I have to leave. I have a theory to think about.’
‘Really?’ asked Shiva. You mean it is not necessary in Meluha that the Emperor ’s first-born
son succeed him?’
‘Yes,’ replied Sati smiling.
Shiva and Sati had spent many hours over the previous week talking about matters
important and mundane. Sati, while recovering quickly, was still bedridden. The convoy had set
up camp at Koonj till such time as the injured were ready to travel. The journey to Lothal had
been called off. Shiva and Parvateshwar had decided that it was better to return to Devagiri as
soon as the wounded were able to.
Sati shifted slightly to relieve a bit of the soreness in her back. But she did not let go of
Shiva’s hand while doing so. Shiva leaned forward and pushed back a strand of hair that had
slipped onto Sati’s face. She smiled lovingly at him and continued, ‘You see, till around two
hundred and fifty years back, the children of the kings were not his birth-children but were
drawn from the Maika system. So there was no question of knowing who the first-born was.